Ballentine Partners LLC Has $822,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,099 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MO opened at $49.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day moving average of $48.06. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 70.34%.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.